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Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson waiting in the wings for the winless Maple Leafs

TORONTO - There's a monster waiting in the wings for the winless Toronto Maple Leafs.

Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, dubbed "The Monster" by his former Swedish league coach, is quietly sitting on the sidelines and looking forward to his first career NHL start.

It could come as soon as Tuesday night against the Ottawa Senators, although Leafs coach Ron Wilson has yet to reveal his goaltending plans. Gustavsson is good to go if Wilson elects to start him over Vesa Toskala.

"If he wants me to play, of course I'm ready," Gustavsson said Monday after practice. "That's why I'm here. I want to play and try to contribute something to the team. ... I feel I'm ready."

After a pair of losses to open the season, many Leaf fans are already anxious to see him get a start. The 24-year-old Gustavsson was a hotly pursued free agent that Leafs GM Brian Burke called the best goalie outside of the NHL last season.

He saw his first regular-season action in relief of Toskala during Saturday's 6-4 loss in Washington, allowing three goals in 40 minutes of work. The game was already out of reach when Gustavsson entered and he can't really be blamed for any of the goals that beat him.

When asked about which goalie would start against the Sens on Tuesday, Wilson advised reporters to watch for "who comes out of the tunnel first." Besides that, he didn't really tip his hand.

"This isn't about Jonas, this isn't about Vesa - this is about us trying to win hockey games," said Wilson.

Gustavsson's time is bound to come soon and will complete a rapid journey to the NHL.

At this time last year, he was unknown and undrafted, playing behind Reinhard Divis with the Swedish team Farjestad. Gustavsson ended up stealing the No. 1 job after the second game of the season and eventually led the team to a championship, drawing the attention of several NHL scouts in the process.

It was during a hot run last season when the six-foot-three netminder earned his nickname as Farjestad coach Tommy Samuelsson opined to reporters that he had a monster in goal.

Gustavsson ended up choosing to sign with the Maple Leafs over the summer because he saw an opportunity to play and liked the city. The Swede seems to have enjoyed his first couple months of living in Toronto.

"There's some food I like to eat back home that I can't find here," said Gustavsson. "Just small things. I don't miss that much from back home."

One setback came when he failed a written test for his driver's license because he didn't realize there were some different road rules between the countries. Teammate Garnet Exelby has been nice enough to drive him from his downtown condo to the team's suburban practice rink on off days.

Gustavsson also managed to get a taste of home during a recent visit to Ikea, where he picked up some Swedish caviar and a couple pieces of furniture.

"I bought a couch and a bed," said Gustavsson, who is earning US$967,500 this season. "It's not maybe the most fancy, but it's enough for me. A good price."

Very little seems to faze him. After missing most of training camp because of minor heart surgery, he didn't allow a goal over three periods of pre-season action against the Detroit Red Wings.

The soft-spoken goaltender comes across as laidback during interviews and has a dry wit - two characteristics that should serve him well in a market where Wilson says the team is under an "electron microscope."

The coach was particularly unhappy to see Toskala get so heavily criticized after just two games of the regular season. Wilson believes some blame should also go to a defence that has resembled one from a "peewee" team.

"It's so unfair just to point fingers at the goalie," he said. "When other guys were getting beat up the ice, 3-on-1s, the goalie didn't yell at somebody to fall down or make a bad decision so that you're facing a 3-on-1."

Several players agreed with that assessment.

Newcomers Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin both acknowledged that they've been guilty of trying to do too much, with Beauchemin saying that there are "no excuses" for his poor play. Even Toskala admitted that he was at fault for Alex Ovechkin's goal just over a minute into Saturday's game.

The Finn had groin surgery in the off-season and believes it's only a matter of time before he finds his form.

"It's only two games into the season," said Toskala. "It's still going to be a long season. I feel pretty good and I'm sure I'm going to do (some) good things."

Gustavsson is confident that he'll have some memorable moments as well. It may end up taking a little time so Gustavsson intends to remain patient until given the opportunity.

"Of course you want to play," he said. "But that's not up to me to decide. That's up to the coaches."

John Tavares scores with a move no one had ever done before

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John Tavares scores with a move no one had ever done before

The New York Islanders captain undressed Jay Bouwmeester in the most unusual of ways, but the important thing is he kept the puck. Then he buried it

John Tavares: good at hockey.

The New York Islanders captain pulled off an absolutely stunning series of moves last night, culminating in a laser-shot goal against St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen. But let's get back to his humbling of Olympic gold medallist Jay Bouwmeester, because that's where the real magic happened.

Witness, as Tavares puts his stick behind his back and grabs it with his other hand while still skating and fending off Bouwmeester. Then, since he is a patient boy, Tavares waits and waits and waits before firing one top corner on Allen:

As the soccer folks would say, lovely. New York would go on to beat the Blues 3-2, with Anders Lee scoring the other two goals for the Isles. After struggling to begin the season, New York is now 6-2-2 in its past 10 games. Tavares leads the squad with 21 points through 26 contests.

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Dubnyk carrying Wild and putting together a Vezina-type season

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Dubnyk carrying Wild and putting together a Vezina-type season

How good has Devan Dubnyk been for the Minnesota Wild this season? Well, according to his coach: "If he was in Toronto, there'd be no Carey Price."

It’s nowhere on the scale of grand gestures when compared to the ‘triple low-five’ P.K. Subban and Carey Price used to do at center ice, but Eric Staal and Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild have a rather interesting post-win ritual. At some point, Staal comes to Dubnyk in the dressing room and says, “You looked like you knew what you were doing tonight,” and the two of them bump fists. “I appreciate that,” is Dubnyk’s response. “I’m just trying to trick everybody just a little bit longer.”

But the fact of the matter is, Dubnyk is not tricking anyone. He’s playing in the best league in the world, one where posers and phonies get exposed pretty quickly. And he’s not only playing, he’s been a dominant force for the Wild this season. Among goalies with a minimum of eight appearances this season, no goalie matches Dubnyk’s .946 save percentage or his 1.65 goals-against average. His four shutouts also leads the league. With 35 saves in a 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night, Dubnyk was a winner in his 300th career start.

Them’s Vezina numbers. And Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, who knows a good sound bite when he sees one, had a pretty bold proclamation when it came to Dubnyk’s status among his brethren in the NHL this season. “If he was in Toronto, there’d be no Carey Price,” Boudreau said. “I’m just saying media-wise. I mean, he hasn’t allowed more than three goals in any game he’s played this year. He’s held us in. It was 17-3 in shots in the third period and they didn’t get any.”

Much has been made of Dubnyk’s renaissance since he adopted a technique known as head trajectory, which in its simplest terms, is tracking the puck with your head instead of your eyes. Before Dubnyk started doing it, he was out of the NHL, skating as a Black Ace as the Montreal Canadiens fourth goaltender in the playoffs. Since then, he’s been an elite goaltender in the NHL and he’s being paid like one on the second year of a six-year deal worth $26 million.

And there might be a reason for that. The past couple of seasons, teams have collapsed in front of their nets more than ever, leaving a bunch of bodies from both teams in the way. In those instances, tracking those pucks has become more important than ever. “You have to pick and choose when I’m going to use my height to find pucks and when I’m going to need to get low,” Dubnyk said. “I think it’s more on the rebounds when those pucks do get through or if they hit shin pads. If you can look first, you’re eliminating moves that don’t seem to happen and you’re just more efficient. I always say it should look relatively boring when I’m back there.”

The ability to self-analyze quickly and adapt also helps. Case in point was the goal scored by Tyler Bozak, who pounced on a turnover, then undressed Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba before firing a backhander over Dubnyk’s shoulder. Dubnyk was clearly upset with himself after the goal, but instead of falling apart, he steeled his resolve and completely shut the door on the Maple Leafs.

“That goal goes in and I give myself a quick talking to and I realize that’s not my best way to stop a puck and move on,” Dubnyk said. “And just make sure I do it properly the next time.” And for a guy who sees the ice so well, Dubnyk didn’t notice the shaft of Mitch Marner’s broken stick in front of him for the longest time. In fact, it wasn’t until Ben Smith scored. “Was that the stick or the ice? It hit something,” Dubnyk said. “I actually think it was the ice. I’ll have to watch the replay, but it skipped hard.”

Three years ago, when Dubnyk went from Edmonton to Nashville to Montreal in one season and finished in the American League, those kinds of goals would have destroyed him. But that summer, Dubnyk signed with the Phoenix Coyotes and joined Mike Smith, who was plucked off the same scrap heap as Dubnyk a couple of years before. Then came the trade to Minnesota, then he saved their season, got a big contract and hasn’t looked in the rearview mirror…except to appreciate what he has now.

“It’s a position that’s extremely mental and when things start to pile up, it’s not a position you can play if you’re second guessing what you’re doing,” Dubnyk said. “It just doesn’t work. It doesn’t work for anybody. That whole year that seemed like forever, I always believed I’d get another shot somewhere. I’ve said it before, but it just allowed me to be grateful that I have a job in the best league in the world.”

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Connor McDavid didn’t mince his words when asked post-game about Brandon Manning. He called the Flyers defenseman “classless” and said Manning admitted to injuring him on purpose.

Connor McDavid has had no shortage of head-to-head battles with young stars in the game. There has been outings against Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews and more than handful per year against the Flames duo of Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.

But of all the players Connor McDavid could have had an on-ice feud with, it seems Brandon Manning is the first real rival for the Oilers phenom.

One might recall that it was during the early part of the 2015-16 campaign that Manning, a Philadelphia Flyers blueliner, got tangled up with McDavid as he looked to break in on goal, resulting in McDavid making hard contact with the boards behind the net. The impact with the boards saw McDavid break his collarbone and led to a 37-game absence for the then-rookie.

It was believed to be an unintentional act, something that simply happened as part of the game, and McDavid had even absolved Manning of any blame. That was until last night, more than 13 months after the Nov. 3, 2015 injury to McDavid..

During the Oilers’ hard-fought 6-5 defeat at the hands of the Flyers, McDavid was seen verbally jousting with Manning on a couple of occasions. The most obvious case came after a power play goal by McDavid, where he was seen skating towards Manning and shouting something in his direction.

It didn’t end there, though. Post-game, the Oilers captain went in on Manning, calling the hit that led to the broken collarbone an intentional act.

"I did all I could defending him last year in the media," McDavid said. "Everyone wanted to make a big deal saying he did it on purpose, and he wanted to say some comments today about what went on last year. I thought it was one of the [most] classless things I've ever seen on the ice. He said some things and our guys responded accordingly. I guess we can put the whole 'if he did it on purpose' thing to rest because what he said out there kind of confirmed that. Shows what kind of guy he is when he doesn’t step up and fight some of our guys.”

Shortly after McDavid commented on the incident, Manning fired back saying that he would “never intentionally hurt someone,” and added that’s not the way he plays.

"Anybody who knows me, I play a hard game,” Manning said, according to NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman. “That's the reason I'm here, that's the way I'm in the NHL. I'm not here to score goals like some of those guys. I think I play an honest game, and anyone who knows me knows I play hard and stuff happens out there."

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Fans want to see NHL players play at the Olympics, the players want to play in the tournament, but the NHL’s Board of Governors still needs some convincing.

If the NHL is going to send players to the Olympics, the NHL’s Board of Governors are going to need some convincing and they’re going to need it in rather short order.

It was reported around the World Cup of Hockey that the NHL had a mid-January deadline to decide on Olympic participation for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. And at the first day of Board of Governors meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., little more than a month from that deadline, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman didn’t make it sound as though the situation is all that positive in terms of the world’s best players heading to the tournament.

One of the sticking points for the Board of Governors, according to Bettman, was the impact the Olympics have on the NHL product.

"There are a lot of owners, clubs, over the years that have been very concerned about what Olympic participation does to the season, what it does to the players in terms of injuries, not just to those that go but having a compressed schedule can make the players more tired, more wear and tear, and the potential for injury is greater,” Bettman said, according to NHL.com’s Dan Rosen.

Even still, Bettman approached the IIHF’s assurance of covering the costs with skepticism and a warning that it doesn’t mean Olympic participation is green lit.

"We have been very clear to Rene Fasel at the IIHF and to Don Fehr at the [NHL] Players' Association that if the expenses aren't being covered, the League isn't paying for them and there really is nothing to talk about," Bettman said, according to Rosen. "Just because somebody may decide to pay for them, and to this point we don't actually know where that stands, that doesn't mean that it's a go.”

Bettman added that he wasn’t sure there was “even the money to cover what's been covered in the last Olympics,” regardless of what the IIHF would say. And even if everything fell in line for an Olympic participation proposal in the coming days, weeks or month, Bettman said it will still need the approval of the Board of Governors in order for the players to be sent to South Korea for the tournament.

"If there is something at some point to take to the Board, it will need an affirmative vote of the Board of Governors," Bettman said, according to Rosen. "I think it's fair to say that there is some strong negative sentiment in the room, but nothing was decided today.”